MTA Spruces Up Subway Bathrooms, Secures Toilet Seats

In subway stations from Union Square to West 125th Street, the limited number of publicly available comfort stations just got a little more comfortable.

The subway restrooms are stops of last resort for most riders, and all close by 7 p.m. each night. Of the 472 stations in the system, only 65 actually have restrooms. Now, at least, this limited number of restrooms are being looked after.

The MTA made the upgrades after the transit agency’s inspector general issued a critical report earlier this year, which found that while the plumbing was working in nearly all of the stations inspectors visited, toilet seats were missing it more than a quarter of them.

“I’m pleased that New York City transit agreed with our recommendations and is taking steps that will make these bathrooms easier to locate and more comfortable to use,” MTA Inspector General Daniel Cort said in a statement.

“Small fixes—like adding toilet seats—can make a big difference in comfort and hygiene for riders,” he added.

Specifically, new seats have been added to bathrooms in Manhattan stations such as 14th Street-Union Square and 125th Street.

There are a total of 125 bathrooms in the subway system, which are spread out across 65 stations and only remain open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; the subway itself runs on a 24/7 basis. Cort’s report dealt with a representative 27-bathroom sample.

The January 2026 report in question was not entirely damning, with Cort noting that these bathrooms “were open and relatively clean; in addition, all 27 had working plumbing.” These restrooms, which the MTA notes are “facilities of last resort” for “most transit riders,” were apparently observed as being well-patronized nonetheless.

Yet problems were observed when it came to the issue of whether New Yorkers could comfortably utilize subway toilets: “While the 27 bathrooms OIG visited had functioning toilets, 10 of 37 toilets did not have toilet seats. OIG observed these seatless, stainless-steel toilets in both men’s and women’s bathrooms.”

“Toilets without seats contravene relevant plumbing codes and raise public health concerns,” the report noted, calling them a “necessity” rather than a “luxury.” To this end, Cort cited a 2023 research poll—included in a BBC article—which found that 63 percent of Americans sit down when they use a public restroom.

In fact, the report appeared to express confusion as to why stainless-steel toilets were installed in some subway bathrooms at all, rather than the porcelain ones that are present in others. However, plastic seats could still have been installed on these stainless-steel toilets, as an included photo demonstrated.

The report also identified a disparity in standards when it came to the installation of proper toilet seating, which NYC Transit officials could not provide a “consistent explanation” for. However, a “subjective rating” system for bathroom repairs was singled out as an apparent source of blame, with similar defects “assigned different levels of severity.”

When the OIG asked NYC Transit officials why these seats were missing, they were often told that vandalism was a likely culprit. However, they couldn’t corroborate this claim with any documentation.

Furthermore, a total of 23 of the 27 bathrooms examined by the OIG reportedly “lacked at least one basic amenity,” whether toilet paper or soap. The report also found six broken stall locks, which rendered these stalls dangerous and “essentially unusable.” One bathroom had a broken hand dryer, another had a broken light fixture, and 14 lacked a garbage container.

Other subway bathrooms were found closed without any signage informing riders of that fact, and some stations reportedly lacked any signage that would inform riders where the restroom was.